Aga Khan to invest $1.2B in education and health in East Africa
The Aga Khan was speaking at the 15th Convocation ceremony for the Aga Khan University where 49 students graduated in various medical disciplines at the Kampala Serena Hotel on Thursday morning.

His Royal Highness the Aga Khan has promised an improvement in Uganda’s health and education sector that will see Ugandans stop seeking treatment abroad. He says this will be possible with investment in education institutions and medical workers.

The Aga Khan was speaking at the 15th Convocation ceremony for the Aga Khan University where 49 students graduated in various medical disciplines at the Kampala Serena Hotel on Thursday morning.

This development comes as the university which operates in 8 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa is planning to invest over one billion dollars over the next 15 years in East Africa

Last edited by Admin on Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:53 am, edited 1 time in total

The Aga Khan during the convocation at the Aga Khan University in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on February 24, 2015. PHOTO | EMMANUEL HERMAN
By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Posted Wednesday, February 25 2015 at 09:45

In Summary

The Aga Khan said both the developed and the developing worlds need quality civil society organisations to confront the future, adding that they were critical if the quality of human life is to be improved.

The Aga Khan University has announced a US$1 billion investment in education in the East Africa region.

At the same time, the Aga Khan – the hereditary spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims - yesterday said Africa must move rapidly to establish and reinforce a healthy civil society to help improve quality of life.

The US$1 billion investment, to be realised over 15 years, will see to the establishment of new campuses and graduate schools in the region, with US$700 million going to Tanzania.

Speaking when he officiated at the Aga Khan University (AKU) graduation ceremony in Dar-es-Salaam, the Aga Khan said both the developed and the developing worlds need quality civil society organisations to confront the future, adding that they were critical if the quality of human life is to be improved.

“More and more, I am convinced that the key to improving quality of human life – both in places that are gifted with good governments and in places that are not so fortunate, is the quality of what I describe as civil society,” said the Aga Khan.

He defined civil society as an array of institutions which are neither public nor profit driven, but which are motivated by voluntary commitments and dedicated to the public good: “They include institutions dedicated to culture, to public information, to the environment and to religious faith. And they include, very importantly, the fields of health and education.”

The Ismailia imam said a healthy civil society is a meritocratic one, where ethics are honoured, and excellence is valued. “And the great question confronting us here in Africa is how rapidly the institutions of a healthy civil society can be established and reinforced.”

The Aga Khan University on Monday became the first such foreign institution to be given a charter by the Tanzanian government.

READ: Tanzania’s Kikwete grants the Aga Khan University charter

The Aga Khan said Tanzania was a special place for AKU since his grandfather, while serving as Imam of the Ismaili Muslim community, made education a top priority and started the first Aga Khan School in Africa over 110 years ago in Bagamoyo.

Over the last 15 years, AKU has graduated 12,000 students including nearly 2,000 nurses and 3,000 teachers. Over the last one year it has trained 1,000 secondary school headteachers.

A new campus is being built in Arusha to be ready in four years to house the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, two graduate schools, a technology and research park, and a library.

The Aga Khan University is planning to set up a teaching hospital in Uganda in order to expand medical training in the country.

Aga Khan University vice president health services Salim Hasham told The EastAfrican that the teaching facility, to be established in Kampala using internally generated funds, debt financing and donors, will cost between $50 million and $100 million.

“As soon as the land is procured, the planning process will be initiated. The full cycle of planning, design and commissioning to open the hospital can take four to six years,” Mr Hasham said.

Mr Hasham said the hospital will be planned in such a way that it can be expanded based on the needs of the community.

At the 11th convocation ceremony of the university in Kampala on February 8, Aga Khan University president Firoz Rasul said the institution is currently working with the Uganda government to find suitable land for the health facility, which will be a comprehensive secondary and tertiary care hospital.

“This complements several medical centres that are also planned across the country,” Mr Rasul said.

Mr. Rasul said AKU currently operates the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, which is the only teaching hospital in Africa accredited by the US- based Joint Commission International, which constitutes the gold standard in hospital quality around the world.

Mr Rasul added that the university also plans to open two other medical centres in Acacia Mall and Metroplex Plaza in Kampala this month, to increase access to quality health care in the country.

At the ceremony, 53 students received diplomas in general nursing and bachelor of science in nursing degrees. The Aga Khan University in Uganda has graduated more than 300 nurses over the past 10 years, with 95 per cent opting to work in the country.

The Aga Khan University is a private, autonomous institution, chartered in 1983, which offers courses in health sciences aimed at promoting human welfare through research, teaching and community service.

It has campuses and programmes in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan, Syria and the United Kingdom, with facilities including teaching hospitals, nursing schools and medical colleges and media.

The university also plans to open campus in Arusha, Tanzania, housing the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

HAPPY: The Aga Khan university graduates jubilate at the 15 graduation ceremony held in kampala

KAMPALA, Uganda - The Aga Khan University, which spans three countries in East Africa, has announced ambitious plans to invest over $1.1 billion over the next 15 years the largest investment in higher education in the history of the region.

The Aga Khan, who was recently in Uganda and also the Chancellor of the University, was speaking at a ceremony for 87 graduates from the School of Nursing and Midwifery. He is also the founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network.

“It’s not so much that twelve thousand people were educated at AKU, but rather that one person was educated here – and that this individual life-transforming story has happened,” he said.

The degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing was conferred upon 22 graduates while 27 graduates were conferred with the Diploma in General Nursing

Graduands were asked to have a multiplier effect that would help in building society since in the end important accomplishments are not measured by quantity but by quality.

The revered Head of the Ismalia Community worldwide said, the most important point is the multiplier effect that graduates can have, as they pass along their skills.

“A healthy civil society is a meritocratic one, where ethics are honoured, and excellence is valued. And the great question now confronting us in Africa is how rapidly the institutions of a healthy civil society can be established and reinforced,” he said.

He said the Aga Khan Foundation envisages the establishment of a Faculty of Health Sciences in Nairobi supported by the internationally accredited Aga Khan University Hospital, which as a teaching hospital produces outstanding medical specialists.

He said “the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering undergraduates a liberal arts education, and a number of graduate schools including Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism, and Architecture and Human Settlements will be built in Arusha. A new campus for AKU’s Institute for Educational Development will be constructed in Dar es Salaam to help the school systems.”

He also added that a teaching hospital will be opened in Kampala, staffed by exceptional physicians and nurses and equipped with the latest technology.

Besides education he also emphasized overall plan for improving the health sectors in the three countries a nationally integrated health system, built on the strong

He said “As we expand our work in Uganda, one of our highest priorities is to achieve international standards of healthcare especially for non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.”

Another special focus according to him will be neuroscience where the promises of stem cell technology must be brought massively and competently to Africa.

The Aga Khan also presided over convocation ceremonies in Nairobi and in Dar es Salaam. He said a new campus for AKU’s Institute for Educational Development will be constructed in Dar es Salaam to help the school systems in the region.

The ceremonies also mark 15 years of the University’s presence on the continent,

AKU President, Mr. Firoz Rasul, who has led the school’s expansion in East Africa, urged the graduates to work together to contribute to East Africa’s development in a period of regional and global integration. “Your education has equipped each of you for leadership and the trademark of a leader is the understanding that real change happens when like-minded individuals are united in pursuit of the same goal,” he said.